Clothes-drier.



R. R. PEASE. CLOTHES DRIER. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Patented July 19 THE "cums Farina cm, wasmmrron, n c:

Patented July 19, 1910.

3 SHEETS-8HEET 2.

ROBERT 1B,. PEASE, OF BANGOR, MAINE.

CLOTHES-DRIER.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ROBERT R. PnAsn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bangor, in the county of Ienobscot and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Clothes-Briers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to clothes driers of that class which consists essentially of a suitably supported upright equipped with a plurality of pivotally supported arms radiating from said upright when in active use and adapted to be folded adjacent to said upright when not in use, thus economizing space; said radiating arms being also preferably disposed in several tiers or series.

The present invention has for its object to provide improved means for supporting the radiating arms pivotally with relation to the upright.

A further object of the invention is to support the arms in such a manner that they may be folded upwardly adjacent to the upright; the supporting means being constructed to support the arms, when extended for use, in approximately horizontal position.

A still further object of the invention is to provide resilient clan'iping means for engaging the arms adjacent to their upper or outer extremities when folded, thus sustaining said arms in a raised or folded position until it shall be desired to place them in active use when all, or any desired number of said arms may be conveniently lowered to the approximately horizontal position which they are to occupy while in active use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide resilient clamping means of a simple, improved and particularly effective construction.

Still further objects of the invention are to simplify and improve the general construction of a device of the character described.

With these and other ends in View which will readily appear as the nature of the invention is better understood the same con sists in the improved construction and novel arrangement and combination of parts.

which will be hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the accompanying drawings has been illustrated a simple and preferred form of the invention; it being, however, understood that no limitation is necessarily made to the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed June 2, 1909.

Patented July 19, 1910.

Serial No. 499,732.

precise structural details therein exhibited, but that changes, alterations and modifications within the scope of the invention may be resorted to when desired.

In the drawings-Figure 1 is a side View of a clothes drier constructed in accordance with the'invention; the arms being extended for active use. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same device showing all of the arms folded. Fig. 3 is a plan view showing one form of the resilient clamping means used in connection with the device, showing also the ends of the arms in engagement with said clamping means. Fig. 1 is a plan view illustrating a slightly modified form of the resilient clamping means whereby it is particularly adapted to operate in conjunction with a larger niunber of arms. Fig. 5 is a top plan view of the upper member of one of the arm supporting devices. Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional view of the same. Fig. 7 is a top plan view of the lower member of one of the arm supporting devices. Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional view of the same. Fig. 9 is a vertical sectional View taken through one of the arm supportingdevices and related parts. Fig. 10 is a plan view of one of the arm supporting rings used in connection with the supporting devices show ing portions of the arms strung upon the same. Fig. 11 is a perspective detail view of the upper member of the arm supporting device. Fig. 12 is a perspective detail View of the lower member of the arm supporting de vice. Fig. 13 is a vertical sectional detail View taken through the lower end of the upright and related parts showing the means whereby the upright is supported for rotation. Fig. 1a is a side view of one of the arms. Fig. 15 is a top plan. view of one of said arms.

Corresponding parts in the several figures are denoted by like characters of reference.

The upright 16 of the improved clothes drier, consists preferably of a wooden pole of suitable dimensions, which is reinforced by a metallic rod 17 passing therethrough as will be best seen in Fig. 13 where the lower end of said rod plainly appears. The upper end of the rod has a head 18, see Figs. 1 and 2, and the lower end of the rod, which is screw-threaded, as shown, is equipped with a nut 19 and washer 2O serving to clamp in position a ferrule 21 upon the lower end of the upright where said ferrule may be secured by additional fastening means such as screws 22. The ferrule 21 is formed with a downwardly extending sleeve 23 having a bearing in a corresponding sleeve or box 24 formed in a casting 25 which is equipped with wings or lugs 26 serving as means for the attachment of the legs 27 whereby the pole 16 is supported in an upright position. The washer is made sufficiently large to engage the lower end of the sleeve or box 24, thus assembling the parts securely; the meeting faces of the ferrule 21 and the casting are provided with ball-races 28 in which anti-friction balls 29 are placed to enable the upright to be con veniently rotated when desired.

The pole or upright 16 is provided at suitable intervals with arm supporting devices which may be broadly described or characterized as hubs B the detailed construction of which will be best understood by reference to Figs. 5 to 9 inclusive, of the drawings. Each of the said hubs includes a lower member consisting of a sleeve 30 having an annular flange 31 and a plurality of pairs of wings 32 disposed at right angles to the flange and connected at their inner ends with the sleeve, the wings of each pair being disposed in parallel relation and it being further understood that the numb-er of pairs of wings may be varied according to the number of arms that are to be pivotally connected with the supporting device. The wings 32 are provided adjacent to their outer edges and to the upper surface of the flange 31, with notches or slots 33 forming a seat for a ring or washer 34 of rubber or other resilient material, which aflords a cushion for the arms when the latter are extended for use as will be hereinafter more fully described; the upper edges of the wings 32 are formed with semi-circular recesses 35 to afford a seat for a ring upon which the arms are pivotally mounted as will be also presently described.

The upper member of the arm supporting device, as will be seen by reference to Figs. 5 and 6, is composed of a sleeve 36 provided with pairs of wings 37, the wings of each pair being disposed in substantially parallel relation to correspond with the wings 32 of the lower member; said wings being provided in their lower edges with approximately semicircular recesses 38. The wings of proximate pairs are connected by flanges 39 to reinforce the structure; several of said flanges being provided with apertures 40 corresponding with similar apertures 41 in the flange 31 of'the lower member, thus enabling said upper and lower members to be securely connected together by fastening means such as bolts or rivets 42, seen in Fig. 9.

The arms 43 consist of flat strips of wood, of suitable dimensions, said arms being provided adjacent to their inner ends which are rounded as shown in Fig. 14, with eyes or apertures 45 to enable said arms to be conveniently strung upon the ring 46, preferably made of stout wire and having disconnected ends to enable said arms to be readily strung thereupon. The ring 46, after the requisite number of arms have been strung thereupon, is placed in the seats 35 provided for its reception in the lower member of the arm supporting device, the arms being adjusted between the pairs of wings 32. The upper member of the supporting device is then adjusted with its wings 37 in registry with the wings 32, thus clamping the ring 46 and holding the parts in proper relation until the fastening members 42 have been applied, after the sections of the supporting hub have been fastened together,.

the arms are free to swing in an upward direction between the spaced wings of the upper member of the supporting device while, when said arms are extended to an: approximately horizontal position, they will be supported upon and cushioned by thev resilient ring or washer 34.

A plurality of the arm supporting members BB may be mounted upon the pole or upright 16 at suitable intervals to enable the arms connected with each supporting device, to be folded adjacent to the pole or upright without interfering with those in the tier next above. Each of the supporting devices may be secured upon the pole by suitable means, such as a set screw 47 engaging the upright through an aperture in the sleeve 30 of. the lower member of the supporting device. It is also desired to be understood that the pole or upright may, if desired, be made tapering in an upward direction, thus making it desirable to make the supporting members B of suitable 'dimensions to engage the part of the upright upon which each of said members is intended to be placed, the latter detail being, however, obviously within the range of skilled mechanics.

For the purpose of holding the arms 43 when folded out of the way adjacent to the pole or upright, I provide resilient clamping means, substantially as illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings. Under the construction illustrated in Fig. 3, there is provided a ring or annular supporting member 48 of wire or other suitable material, upon which an auxiliary resilient wire has been continuously wound in coils or convolutions 49, said resilient wire being formed at intervals with pairs of outwardly extending arms 50 disposed in approximately parallel relation, said arms being provided at their outer ends with laterally extending eyes or coils 51 extending in opposite directions from the arms of each pair and connected at their inner ends by a bridge portion 52 disposed adjacent to and transversely of the arms 50, thus completing construction which enables the convolutions 49, the arms 50, the eyes or coils 51 and the bridge portions 52 to be continuously formed from a single wire, the terminal ends of which may be finally overlapped and secured by twisting them together as indicated at 53. When a resilient clamping member of this character is placed upon the upright a suitable distance above one of the arm supporting devices, the arms 43, when folded upwardly adjacent to the upright, may be secured by placing them in frictional engagement with the eyes or coils 51 extending from or connected with proximate pairs of arms 50, as will be clearly seen in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

In Fig. 4: has been illustrated a slight modification of the resilient clamping device whereby it is particularly adapted to operate in conjunction with a larger number of arms than the device illustrated in Fig. 3. Under this modification the ring or annular supporting member, here designated 54, serves to support a resilient wire which is continuously coiled upon said ring to form the convolutions 55 and outwardly extending pairs of arms 56; each of said pair of arms being connected at their outer extremities by an eye or coil 57. The terminal ends of the resilient wire are secured by twisting them together as indicated at 58. Under this construction the arms 43 to be placed in engagement with the resilient clamping device, are placed in frictional engagement with the eyes or coils 57 connecting the arms 56 of proximate pairs, as will be readily understood; it being quite obvious that owing to the fact that each pair of arms carries but a single friction coil instead of two as under the construction shown in Fig. 3, a larger number of arms may be conveniently accommodated.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the drawings thereto annexed, the operation and advantages of this invention will be readily understood. The construction is simple. The arms when folded upwardly adjacent to the upright will be held securely by the resilient clamping devices, and being thus securely confined are not liable to form annoying obstructions as they are very liable to do when permitted to hang unsecured. The device may be constructed at a moderate expense and it has proven to be thoroughly eflicient for the purposes for which it is provided.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:

In a clothes drier, an upright, a hub mounted thereon and comprising upper and lower members, the upper member consisting of a sleeve having outwardly-extending pairs of wings arranged in parallel relation and flanges connecting the wings of adjacent pairs and the lower member consisting of a sleeve having an annular flange and outwardly-extending pairs of wings provided with notches in their lower edges adjacent to the flange, a ring supported in seats formed in the approximate pairs of wings of the upper and lower members, an elastic ring seated in the notches of the lower member, arms pivoted upon the ring between the wings of the last named member and a clamping device mounted upon the upright at a point above the hub and adapted to engage and confine the free ends of the arms when folded adjacent to the upright.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ROBERT R. PEASE.

Witnesses:

IVILLIAM P. TI-IoMPsoN, ROBERT B. Common. 

